Seven Brides for One Brother

 

 I don’t think the Sadducees really cared about Jesus’ opinion on resurrection (Luke 20:27-38.) Not unlike some of our political news reporters who ask leading questions for which they already know the answer, the Sadducees tried to embarrass Jesus by having him say something that “contradicts” the Mosaic law. Yet, motives aside, was their question really unreasonable?  

The Sadducees did not believe in man as spiritual beings and viewed the person strictly from a human perspective. Resurrection and life after death were not consistent with their beliefs based on the Torah.   Jewish law determined their stance on women, marriage and procreation. So querying's about remarriage and life after death were intended to trap Jesus fidelity to Mosaic law. 

The Sadducees based their beliefs on the first five books of the Old Testament, the Torah or the laws of Moses. However, Moses was dealing in a time and place during which a man was responsible for insuring the preservation of his “tribal” lineage and his family. Jesus’ stance on earthly convention had nothing to do with the laws of Moses. God cannot be defined or confined by man’s laws. We are limited to understand only to the extent that our intellect permits. God does not conform to human understanding or is confined by our earthly dimension.

Of course, in all cultures and especially in Jesus' time, marriage and procreation were crucial to maintaining lineage, stability and survival. Jesus was not rejecting or taking a stand on marriage but rather teaching that marriage is a human social contract and as such is irrelevant in the next “age” in which procreation and adherence to Mosaic law is not applicable or necessary in life eternal. 

 David Steindl-Rast writes in Deeper than Words that “Jesus’ resurrection has nothing to do with coming back to life (as Lazarus did in John’s Gospel). The Nicene and Apostle Creeds do not refer to resurrection as ‘coming back’ to this life. No, resurrection is a sacred movement of life's completion. It’s a new beginning in a new dimension of existence in which the power of love breaks the bonds of death consistent with our humanity. The followers of Jesus knew and experienced the resurrection of Jesus Christ as a life-changing event.”

“For many of us mystery became an adversary; unknowing became a weakness. The contemplative spiritual life is an ongoing reversal of this adjustment. It is a slow and sometimes painful process of becoming ‘little children’ again in which we first make friends with mystery and finally fall in love with it again.”  (Gerald May, Dark Night of the Soul).

 

You've Got to be Carefully Taught

It is impossible for us not to have grown up without biase or “preconceived notions” of people, places and things. From the time we are born we are surrounded by visual and auditory signals that influence the way we view our world. In time these “prejudices” are tempered by our intellect, personal convictions and we either accept or reject those preliminary biases and opinions. And so it is in the story of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10). In this Gospel Luke really exaggerates the stereotype of the despised man in the community to make a point: Zacchaeus (let’s call him “Z”), was rich; a chief tax collector, and he was short (?). In the shame-based culture of his time, being a tax collector was tantamount to being a traitor. The tax collector was expected to “extort” money from his people and turn it over, minus his commission, to the Roman oppressors. As Luke referenced his height, my guess is that Z was probably shorter than most people of his time. In any case, we can understand why Luke’s audience would rush to judgment.

 Rodgers and Hammerstein characterized how “inherited” racial prejudice and intolerance can destroy relationships in, South Pacific's, “You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught." On the other hand, they can be overcome by understanding and love. In that song Lieutenant Cable describes how his Philadelphia blue-blood upbringing has caused him to retreat from his love for the Tonkinese girl, while Nellie, the young nurse from Little Rock, cannot accept the fact that the much older sophisticated Frenchman she loves, had fathered inter-racial children out of wed lock.

Z knew who he was and knew what he had done. He saw shame in the eyes of his community and was quite happy to be concealed. There are those among us who are naturally drawn to the promise of healing and wholeness but instead opt to “hide up a tree” because they are among the disenfranchised and not a part of the in-crowd. Like Z, it’s safer for them to look from a distance than risk shame or embarrassment.

In keeping with Luke’s familiar surprise endings and his unlikely heroes, Jesus called Z out and “invited himself” to his home. In turn, Z immediately responds and repents, at which point the story reverts to the crowd that demonizes a person it doesn't like based upon its pre-conceived notions and prejudice.

Nancy Rockwell writes “what Jesus treasures in the despised is their ability to hang on, to survive with part of their own humanity intact, despite the way they have been treated by the world. This part of themselves becomes their shining light, becomes the window of their soul and a lighted path for all out souls…They are here to show us how to keep going in deep darkness, how to survive the bullies, how to have hope in mean times…No wonder, then, that we celebrate the saints in the dark of the year, a time they understand well, a darkness in which they shine.” (The Bite in the Apple).

There but for the grace of God go I

 

In reading this parable Luke 18:1-9 it’s only natural for us to take the side of the tax collector. After all these months of discussing Luke, we’re pretty sure we have a good handle on what he’s trying to tell us.  We know that Luke was writing to an elite audience whose rigorous adherence to the law revealed its position in society. Besides, anytime we try to draw a line between who's "in" and who's "out" as this parable asserts, it’s reasonable to assume that God is on the side of the poor wretched tax collector. But this straight up and down seems a little too easy and another Luke red herring. Once we fall prey to the temptation that divides humanity into groups, we have aligned ourselves squarely with the Pharisee. 

This parable is not about self-righteousness and humility any more than it’s about a pious Pharisee and desperate tax collector. Rather it’s about God…who alone can judge and “justify.” Judgment is based on law and is at the mercy of human interpretation and bias. David Steindl-Rast writes  in Deeper Than Words that Justice is rooted in love not law…and is not a matter of imposing laws, as one imposes with a cookie cutter, patterns on flattened dough; it’s more like the yeast in the dough, it makes things work from within …Judging does not mean punishing but setting things right. Genuine justice ‘justifies’ in the way the printer justifies the lines on a page by making the margins straight. In nature whatever we look at closely shows itself ‘justified’---in harmony with divine order…nature is the great example of love in this sense. 

This story is at the very heart of the good news.  God sees all about us, and knows all about us—good and bad--and accepts us as we are.   

 

 

Out of the depths I cry out to you O Lord

Throughout our readings in Luke we encounter several widows that Jesus selects as the focus of his parables. These women are always depicted as especially vulnerable since without a family, means of support or any prospect of marriage, they were marginalized  with little hope for survival. Yet, despite their vulnerability, Jesus portrays these women as people of remarkable determination, strength and faith. I realize widows provide unique opportunities for Jesus to illustrate his point with his audience; however, I wonder that if over the centuries, in our male dominated world and our social and religious institutions, we didn’t overlook a point that Jesus was making as to the prominence of women and pivotal role they played? In every case these Biblical characters demonstrate more than enough resolve and strength to make the case for our re-examining these stories and the role of women as leaders that can challenge our institutional hierarchies . Perhaps, I am out of my element in this venue to adequately deal with the social issues regarding gender inequality, but I introduce it here as food for thought and the subject of another conversation. Yet, I still can’t help but wonder, that given Jesus' knowledge of what was to come, what was the messages his texts and sub texts.

The widow in our story (Luke 18:1-8) is persistent and forceful enough to get the justice she demands even from an utterly unjust judge, who is, through lineage, included among the “chosen ones of God.” While the parable is framed by references to prayer and faith, the emphasis is on justice and how it figures into the confrontation between the vulnerable justice-seeker and the unjust power-broker. The powerful and just God takes the place of the unjust judge in the end, granting justice to his vulnerable, chosen ones who cry out to him day and night.

We are told that there is only one other use of this term chosen one in Luke. And this reference is reserved for Jesus who while on the cross, is mocked by the religious leaders as “God’s chosen one.” These so-called leaders, like the unjust judge in the parable, inadvertently get it right in spite of themselves. Jesus, the chosen one cries out from the cross as he petitions the Father and commends his spirit to him and breathes his last.

Finally the parable leaves us with a question that resonates beyond the cross and tomb and the resurrection: “And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” We find part of the answer in past Gospels in which a number of people are commended for their faith: the centurion who believes Jesus will heal his slave, even from a distance; the sinful woman who anoints Jesus’ feet and loves much; friends of the paralytic who are willing to dig through a roof; the bleeding, unclean woman who dares to touch Jesus’ cloak in the crowd and is healed; the Samaritan leper, whose gratitude takes him back to Jesus where he falls at his feet in thanksgiving, and the blind beggar later in this chapter who sees Jesus for who he is and cries out to him. Perhaps the lesson suggests that the willingness to persist in prayer, as in our widow, against all odds is the sign of faith we seek.

Believing is Seeing

 

 Ten lepers approached Jesus. They kept their distance. That was the rule for lepers. They were unclean, and therefore considered separated from God and society. In our gospel (Luke 17:11-19), the lepers were all cleansed by Jesus. However, only one of the lepers returns and in thanksgiving and prostrates himself at Jesus' feet. Andre Prior writes that ten is a number of completeness and true completeness or wholeness comes from recognizing God's presence in Jesus. The Samaritan returned and praised God, but also recognized God’s working through Jesus, as the reason for Jesus declaring the man’s “wholeness.”  Why is it that we can talk about Jesus' ministry and lose sight of the fact that he is the earthly, human manifestation of God? I suppose it's because Jesus did such a good job in the manifestation his humanity. The Samaritan saw through the act of cleansing and healing and recognized the Almighty at work. 

In a very real sense, true worship comes about when we recognize the active presence of God in our midst. In keeping with Jesus’ “radical” penchant for keeping us off balance and not following expected patterns, this story is deliberately subversive. Lepers were not very respectable, and Samaritans were despised by many if not all Jews of the day. Lepers were unclean, feared and anyone having anything to do with them would be considered as cut off from God in Jewish law. 

We see a continuum in Luke’s theme as this story is reminiscent of past gospels and our recent discussions of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son (in Luke 15)? In a sense, the Samaritan leper is like the lost sheep and is incomplete and lost without the other ten. And in some way the Samaritan leper in Jesus’ time may be considered a metaphor for Muslims of our time. Not all Muslims are radical.  

Worship is not simply about hearing God's story or even praising God in response; rather, hearing and discussing the story helps us see God at work in our lives and the world. This is the key to the Christian life as we are called simply to see...and to help others do the same. 

At the outset of this story, ten men live in a "no-man's" land of exile... socially, religiously, and physically unclean. By the end of the story, all ten are made well. But one has seen God through Jesus, recognized his blessing and rejoiced in it. And because he sees with his heart what has happened, the leper is not just healed, but is made whole, restored, drawn back into relationship with God and humanity. What is true stewardship, worship, and Christian living? It is the tenth leper turning back in recognition, thanksgiving and praise who has been made whole. For now as then, seeing makes all the difference. In the Samaritan leper's case believing is seeing the presence of God in Jesus. How does that work for us?

Adapted from Andrew Prior and David Lose, The Text This Week, Luke 17:11-19, 2013

Just Do It!

 

While it’s easy to dismiss the disciples’ request (Luke 17: 5-10) for "more faith" as trivial, don’t we sometimes feel somewhat lacking in our fiath as the disciples did? In typical human fashion we have this notion that faith is something we can measure and naturally want more of it. But can you blame the disciples or us? After spending the summer reading Luke’s Gospels we sometimes ask who in the world can live up to Jesus’ expectations as characterized in the parables. Is it any wonder that we feel inadequate and think we need more faith?

We sometimes feel overwhelmed by what it is we think it means to be a “good Christian,” indulging in self-doubt, not quite sure if we really have what it takes to follow Jesus. It’s only human to think that being a disciple is beyond our human abilities and out of reach. But isn’t that the whole point? We are only human and God loves us for our humanity, reminding us that faith rarely is heroic and we need to manage our expectations accordingly. 

When I truly accept that we are spiritual beings on the way to our creator having a human experience faith takes on new meaning. Yet, can we really define what is undefinable. When we feel daunted by the ego's wallowing in inadequacy we need to remember that living our lives in faith can be pretty ordinary. It’s what Theresa of Avilla calls the “pots and pans of life.”  I think that’s what Jesus meant when he compared faith to a tiny mustard seed that grows quietly and beyond any expectation. It’s not about quantity; all God wants is for us to just be. Even the simplest things done with love and compassion can have a huge impact.

And so Jesus tells his us that we have all the God-given opportunities to do whatever it is that needs to be done. It’s all the ordinary stuff we do all the time and, taken together and blessed by God, it’s pretty extraordinary! And just like the Nike slogan, Just Do It!

Better Late May Be Never

The story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31 is in keeping with many of our recent discussions and typical of Luke’s Gospels in which we encounter a number of assumptions and reversals. The first reversal is that the beggar is given a name and the rich man is not.
When we encounter the poor or homeless we are moved to pity and a desire to help. Yet, too often this desire or inclination stops with the intention. It’s not that we don’t care; we really do, but something happens to cause us to “look the other way,” just long enough for us to put the “urge” out of our minds and for us to forget it. Let’s face it, getting physically involved with those who are “different” from us can make us a little uncomfortable. Perhaps the operative word here is “different.”

So it is with the rich man in this parable. Both characters die and Lazarus is with Abraham in paradise and the rich man is in hell. While the story does not have a judgment scene, we assume that the rich man is not condemned because of his wealth but because he was “indifferent” to the plight of Lazarus. He did nothing to relieve his suffering in this life. Lazarus was not in the rich man’s line of sight because he was different …and the rich man was indifferent.

Yet doesn’t the rich man reveal a certain compassion and “piety” when he begs Abraham to send Lazarus to “warn” his brothers? Doesn’t this “better late than never piety” count for anything? No, it really doesn’t…the road to hell is paved with the best intentions. Jesus is telling us that piety and talk are cheap grace; it’s what we do with our wealth, i.e., our time, our abilities and our resources that count. While the rich man could have helped Lazarus before, he did not, and Lazarus cannot do anything to help the rich man now.

This Gospel stresses the urgency for us to act in this lifetime and suggests that the righteous and the “wicked” may see each other after death…but if they are attentive to the presence of the Kingdom of God, they may see both each other while on this earth.